Beyond the Micro and Macro to the Global: Who does it?

Richard Birge Baldauf Jr

The University of Queensland, Australia

WS121: Language Policy, Planning and Management: From Micro to Macro and Vice Versa

While classical language policy and planning has had the state as it focus (i.e. macro planning), and critical studies have suggested that those interested in language planning and policy should look at case studies (i.e. micro or local planning), there is emerging, as a result of globalization, another focus of critical discussion, that of world language problems. In a globalizing world language planning and policy must not only cater for national and local interests, but broader interests that span, unite or conflict with these foci. While once there were only a few bodies that took on this role, e.g., UNESCO or the United Nations, there are an increasing number of bodies and groups, both formal (overt) and informal (covert), who are looking at language issues from a globalized perspective. While English is seen as the ultimate example of a globalised language, it isn’t the only example of this phenomenon. This paper attempts to draw together the global, the macro and the micro and their cross-overs and contributions to our understanding of language policy and planning.